Dear Friends/Co-sailors,
For my today's pick section in my blog, I am posting the
following link from The Guardian to a very vital news report that shows how the
climate crisis of the 21st century has been caused largely by just 90
companies, which between them produced nearly two-thirds of the greenhouse gas
emissions generated since the dawning of the industrial age.
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/nov/20/90-companies-man-made-global-warming-emissions-climate-change
Some Key highlights of the report are as follows:
- The companies range from investor-owned firms – household
names such as Chevron, Exxon and BP – to state-owned and government-run firms.
- Vast majority of the firms were in the business of
producing oil, gas or coal.
- There are thousands of oil, gas and coal producers in the
world, but the decision makers, the CEOs, or the ministers of coal and oil if
you narrow it down to just one person, they could all fit on a Greyhound bus or
two.
- Half of the estimated emissions were produced just in the
past 25 years.
- Many of the same companies are also sitting on substantial
reserves of fossil fuel which – if they are burned – puts the world at even
greater risk of dangerous climate change.
- Between them, the 90 companies on the list of top emitters
produced 63% of the cumulative global emissions of industrial carbon dioxide
and methane between 1751 to 2010, amounting to about 914 gigatonne CO2
emissions, according to the research. All but seven of the 90 were energy
companies producing oil, gas and coal. The remaining seven were cement
manufacturers.
In my opinion, these companies should now cough off all
their profit in climate change mitigation programmes. They should not be given the free ride over
our ecological and mineral resources anymore.
And, strong penalties should be imposed upon them for the climate crime
they have been freely doing.
Thanks and regards,
Ranjan
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